A knight, a lady, and a squire
by Blackfirm
Summary: It has been a surprisingly snowy winter, which leads to problems Teddy, Victoire, and James haven't anticipated when they decided to go on their quest. Then again, they are still young enough not to think of consequences anyway.


It is one of life's many truths that children have the greatest adventures. Now I don't know about you, dear reader, but when I look back on my childhood I remember the thrilling adventures and unforgettable quests my friends and I embarked on, never once wasting a thought on the consequences we could face at the end. As we grow up we start going on different adventures that are exciting in their own way, but can never quite compare. Luckily this tale isn't concerned with those adventures. No, this is the tale of a hero who was still young enough for a true children's adventure. Just like me when I was younger, he was accompanied by his most loyal friends, a fair lady and a squire, who was not too happy about his title.

xxx

"Why can't I be a knight too?" James asked for what seemed like the 100th time to Teddy and Victoire. They were at The Burrow as the Christmas holidays came to an end for Teddy; this was one of his last evenings back home before he had to return to Hogwarts. He had spent as much time as possible with the Potters and Weasleys, because even though he was older than Victoire and James, they always found something to do together.

"You have to prove yourself first!" Teddy exclaimed after a few seconds of mulling James' question over. James pouted and was about to whine some more, but Victoire poked him in the side.

"Shh, we have to be quiet, or the dragon will notice us", she whispered. James eyes widened a little, and he quickly nodded before peaking around the corner just like Victoire and Teddy. They had to sneak through the dragon's lair to get out, but there were hardly any places where they could hide.

"I'll go ahead, you two follow. If... If one of us gets caught, the others will have to move on. We can't turn back or hesitate. This quest is of the utmost importance!" Teddy explained, looking at Victoire and James one more time. The two nodded, looking grim, but Teddy gave them a confident smile, despite his quickly beating heart. As he waited for some kind of distraction, his tousled hair turned from the turquoise he sported most of the time to a strawberry blond that looked suspiciously like Victoire's hair colour.

At last, their moment came. The dragon was distracted, thanks to a fighting Lily and Hugo that had resulted in a Hugo that was bawling his eyes out. Lightning quick Teddy dashed forward, throwing himself under the table in the dragon's lair. He crawled forward a bit, waiting for Victoire and James to make it through as well, and only a few seconds later they were there with him. He nodded at them, and started making his way toward the other side of the dragon's lair. The entrance of the cave wasn't that far away, but they had to avoid the trip wires set by the dragon. If they touched just one of them an alarm would sound and their adventure would be over. Teddy himself almost triggered one of them when he tried looking back at his two friends while still moving forward. It was by pure chance that his Aunt Ginny got up just then.

With all those trips in place, it took them until way after Hugo had stopped crying to reach the lair's entrance. Now there were still the few meters between their hiding spot and freedom. Teddy looked around the table's legs to make sure that everyone was otherwise occupied, and crouched ready to run. When everyone seemed focused on something else, he snuck over to the door, only opening it a tiny bit. The crack was barely big enough for them to squish through, but Teddy was hopeful that they would be less likely to be noticed that way. All three of them made it through, and while Victoire and James already grinned widely, he closed the door as quietly as possible. As soon as they were a few steps away from the door, though, he joined in in their cheers and grinned just as widely as the other two.

"I almost bumped against dad's legs when he suddenly sat down again!" James exclaimed, and Victoire and Teddy laughed.

"Yeah, and I thought they'd notice us when Uncle George dropped the spoon."

"That really was a close one!" It took a few more minutes for the giggles to subside, but eventually they calmed down and faced their next obstacle. With solemn faces they studied the snow desert ahead of them. Many people had tried walking the through it, yet few made it, most because the cold was too much for them or because they got lured away by the monsters lurking in the shadows. Knight Teddy, however, was sure they would be able to make it, and so he started walking toward their final destination: the mountain they could only see the peak of from their current position. Silence could have stretched between them hadn't it been for James who could never be quiet for a very long time.

"You have to tell us more about Hogwarts!" he burst out, "Are Uncle Ron's stories really true?" Victoire rolled her eyes, and before Teddy could say anything she threw in, "Seriously, James? Mum and dad say he exaggerates. A lot." A grin spread across Teddy's face again, as he watched Victoire flip her hair back just like Aunt Fleur did so often.

"Yeah, he exaggerates about some things, but Hogwarts really is amazing! Sorta difficult to get around at first, but the Fat Friar loves helping first years. Hufflepuff is the best house ever." James snorted, and even Victoire huffed, despite her not even knowing whether she would eve be going to Hogwarts or not. Fleur wanted her to attend Beauxbatons, but Bill was pushing for Hogwarts. At the moment Fleur was somehow winning the argument, but luckily they had a few more years to make a choice. Teddy was hoping that as much as his family ended up at Hogwarts, although holidays in France to visit Victoire didn't sound too bad either. Thinking about all those endless possibilities, Teddy didn't even notice when oddly deformed figured stumbled into their path. It was thanks to Victoire and James tugging at his sleeves that he didn't bump into one of them, and he quickly jumped back a step.

"Oh no..." Normally the gnomes were no trouble for them, but tonight there were so many of them.

"Let's throw as many as we can, and then try to run! The mountain isn't that far anymore!" Victoire had a point. They had almost made it to the mountain, and even though the cold was getting to them, he was sure they could run the remaining distance. Without saying anything else, Teddy grabbed the first gnome by the legs, and threw it as far as he could. Victoire and James soon followed suit, and when the more intelligent of the gnomes realised what was going on some of them ran.

"Let's go!" James yelled a little sooner than Teddy would have liked, but without hesitating he threw the gnome he had just picked up over the fence, and dashed after James, Victoire hot on his heels. Panting and laughing once more they came to a halt at the foot of the mountain.

"I hate those gnomes!" Victoire gasped as she tried to catch her breathe. James who had just managed to stop giggling couldn't help laugh again.

"I thought this was fun. Much more fun than they normally are." Teddy was about to agree with him, but decided against it in the last moment, because James had started rolling around in the snow in an attempt to make a snow angel. What would it say about him if he agreed with that overexcited ball of energy and messy black hair? Shaking his head, Teddy finally turned to the entrance of the mountain, and tried getting in. A frown appeared on his face when the door didn't budge. It was locked

"Use magic?" Victoire and James suggested at the same time when they realised their predicament. They had to finish their quest otherwise all this trouble would have been for nothing! Teddy glanced back at the other two, and wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers. He really shouldn't be doing magic, but they wouldn't be able to get in there without it. And he had read about that unlocking charm, he'd just never tried it.

"Okay", he muttered after a few moments, and got out his wand, pointing it at the door. Straightening up and clearing his throat, he said, "Alohomora!" and much to his relief the door sprang open. They had made it. James pushed past them and found the light switch. They had all been in here before, and still, it was different when grandpa Weasley wasn't with them.

Teddy pulled the door shut behind them, but it slammed shut much harder than he had expected. The three of them could hear a sound from the roof – did something just slide it down? - and then a heavy thud just outside the door. They spun around, and Teddy grabbed the door handle rattling it.

"Uh-oh." The door wasn't moving, wasn't opening. Teddy paled, and his hair turned an odd green-ish colour.

"What do you mean 'uh-oh'?" asked Victoire, and tried to open the door as well.

"I think this means we're stuck here", Teddy muttered, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "Snowed in, sorta." With a sigh he turned back around, expecting Victoire and James to look as resigned as him, but instead they seemed to panic. James' eyes were wide and his bottom lip was trembling as though he was close to tears, while Victoire was muttering in rapid French, balling her hands into fists.

"No, no, no, don't worry! They'll notice when we're gone." Teddy's green-ish hair turned a bright orange that rivaled the Weasleys when his words appeared to have no effect on his two friends.

"What if they don't find us? What if we're here the night and the gnomes get in and they eat our faces?" James whispered. At least James' words stopped the constant string of French neither of them understood, but now Victoire looked on the verge of tears as well.

"James! Why would you say something like that?" Victoire stammered while Teddy was still wondering about what to do.

"It just popped into my head." Tears were now rolling down the younger boy's cheeks, and he was sniffling.

"Come on, James! Your dad's an auror, and your mum is an awesome Quidditch player. They've both fought in battles, and so have your parents Victoire. Plus, Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur are curse breakers. And there's always Uncle George. I mean, seriously! Considering how often he and Uncle Fred must have snuck off to places, he is probably one of the first to notice when his favourite troublemakers are gone, don't you think?" The words didn't have as great an effect on the other two as Teddy had hoped, and he was pacing up and down trying to think of something else to do. He tried opening the door again, even tried the unlocking charm, but it didn't do anything at all. It would have been better if they could have just gotten out of the shack again, but Teddy realised the chances of that happening any time soon weren't high. He wrecked his brain for ideas of how he could calm down Victoire and James, and when he finally figured something out, the simplicity of it all was kind of funny to him.

When Teddy turned around again and faced the other two, his hair had turned rainbow coloured, he had a tiny nose, but huge eyes and a huge mouth. Shocked silence greeted him at first before Victoire and James started giggling. As they calmed down, they sat down on the ground together, and the other two started requesting more and more ridiculous faces for him to make. Luckily Teddy had always been adventurous with his appearance, and over the years had learned that there was almost nothing he couldn't turn into.

xxx

"I think I know where they are", Harry yelled back to the house before making his way over to Arthur's shack with all the Muggle things. Everyone had been frantic when they had noticed that Teddy, Victoire, and James were gone, but with the window of the shack all lit up, Harry was fairly certain they would be there. He frowned when he got to the door, and saw that it was blocked by a huge pile of snow. A swish of his wand moved it to the side, but that could explain why the children hadn't come back to the house once they were bored. Shaking his head, Harry opened the door, and was greeted by an interesting sight. The three had fallen asleep in some sort of dog pile. James and Victoire looked as though they had cried, but what made him hesitate and close his eyes for a second was Teddy.

Somehow Teddy had ended up with an utterly ridiculous, bright green hairstyle, and a nose that looked like a pig snout. 'Like mother, like son', Harry thought to himself as he leaned down to the three children, and gently woke them so that they could stumble back to the house with him. The scolding could wait until the next morning.


End file.
